


Double Shot Espresso?

by zapatterson



Category: Blindspot (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, F/F, Zapatterson, bc every ship needs a coffee shop au, patterson is broody in this so slightly ooc, tasha zapata is a huge flirt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-25
Updated: 2017-06-26
Packaged: 2018-11-19 01:38:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11303070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zapatterson/pseuds/zapatterson
Summary: Bright blue eyes looked up at her, wide and a little shocked. “Do you hit on everyone like this?”Tasha winked. “Only on the pretty ones, pretty girl.”





	1. 1. Shit

**Author's Note:**

> I had my first shift as a barista on Wednesday and the PRETTIEST girl came in for a double shot espresso and honestly I just about died. Apparently she's a regular so here's hoping I see her again :) anyways ENJOY!!

Tasha leaned against the counter and groaned. Boredom was her unwanted friend today. Mid-day shifts were always slow, and if Tasha wanted anything out of the shift at this point, it was a rush. Even a 5-person rush would be better than standing here at a register staring at an empty café.

She let out another sigh, puffing out her cheeks in a pout. If she looked on the bright side of this, her paycheck was going to be bigger than her last one. This pay period she picked up three extra shifts. Plus, she was working a double today because her coworker, Jane, was sick. She could only hope Magnus was alright by himself. Her cat always got antsy when she didn’t come home at the normal time. He was clingy like that.

The door chimed and Tasha immediately stood up straight and flashed her best smile.

“Hi, welcome to Allie's Café!” she greeted.

The customer was pulling down her scarf, freeing her mouth so she could speak. Tasha kept her smile in place, but she lowkey was freaking out. Okay, so the girl was like really cute? Could you blame her? The customer came up to the counter and eyed the menu. She had the brightest blue eyes and the most incredible blonde hair which looked liked it belonged on a L'Oreal commercial despite having just pulled off her hat. How was this even fair?

“Could I get a double shot espresso, please?” she asked.

Tasha keyed it into the register and grabbed a cup, slipping a sleeve on it. “Sure, what’s your name, pretty girl?”

Normally, Tasha would be scolded for hitting on the customers. A lot of the time she couldn’t help it because there were just so many beautiful people in the world, she had to let them know. But since her manager was in the back catching up on the dishes from the morning rush, she was going to get lucky this time around.

The customer blinked before a light blush spread across her nose. “Patterson.”

“Alright, Patterson,” Tasha practically purred (someone stop her please). “Anything else I can get for you today?”

Patterson stepped back from the counter to look over at the cooler full of other products that Allie's carried but stepped back up after a quick glance. “Just the espresso today.”

Tasha hummed and penned Patterson's name on the side of the cup, adding a little heart at the end. It wasn’t really that necessary but hey, it looked cute now that it was there.

“Okay, that’ll be $2.49.”

Patterson fished out her credit card, Tasha noticing that the blonde had the same college ID as her, fitted into one of the slots in the blonde's purse. Patterson swiftly swiped the card and moved over to the seating area. Tasha took a quick peek at the blonde again as she went about making Patterson's espresso. She had on dark jeans (which fit REALLY well), boots, a leather jacket, and the dark red scarf. Overall a pretty dark ensemble if Tasha had an opinion on it, but Patterson pulled off the vibe really, really well.  
Patterson's drink was done and Tasha slapped on a lid.

“Double shot espresso for Patterson!”

Habit had Tasha calling out the order, granted it was in a softer voice than she would use for a rush, but when Patterson was one of the five people in the store right now, it was kind of pointless.

The blonde came to grab her coffee after powering up her laptop.

“Enjoy,” Tasha cooed, winking.

Patterson blinked and blushed again, mumbled a quick thanks before retreating back to her seat. Well, chalk up another loss for Tasha.  
The rest of her shift went pretty much the same way. One or two customers at a time, some there just for a quick coffee to get them through the midday crash, others there to socialize. Tasha struck up a small conversation with each of them, more to stave off her own boredom than to actually get to know them. They were all pretty good about making small talk with her. She was all smiles and full of charisma, all in order to make sure that her customers had something to make their coffee experience better.

===

Tasha's next shift was in the morning, the opening shift. She always preferred this time anyways, she was a morning person. Some people were always going to be grumpy in the morning, but she made it her mission to brighten a customer’s day just a little when they came in for the morning caffeine spike.

After the normal rush of people, the constant “hi” and “what can I get for you?”, the shift started to slow down. Tasha busied herself with cleaning up the mess she and her coworker had created with the constant slew of orders. She hummed and danced along with the music as she cleaned up.

The door chimed. Another customer. Once again Tasha found herself smiling brightly at the person standing at the counter.

It was Patterson.

Without even trying, Tasha smiled a touch brighter for her. Patterson looked down right exhausted, the bags under her eyes were certainly noticeable, and she slouched into her jacket.

“Hi, double shot right?” Tasha asked. Memorising customer’s orders was sort of Tasha's thing. Plus it wasn't exactly that complicated.

The other girl looked up and squinted at Tasha. “How do you know my order?”

Tasha was already writing Patterson's name on the cop, adding the heart at the end again, when she looked up over the rim of the cup. " You have a pretty face, it's the kind you don't forget.” Tasha smirked.

Patterson scowled and dug out her purse. “I would use any word other than ‘pretty’ for myself.”

“Hot? Cute ? Beautiful? Any of those work?” Tasha set the cup down and keyed in Patterson's order.

Tasha watched and waited for Patterson to answer as she swiped her card, a small smirk on her lips.

Bright blue eyes looked up at her, wide and a little shocked. “Do you hit on everyone like this?”

Tasha winked. “Only on the pretty ones, pretty girl.”

Despite how dumb this was, Patterson lit up, her blush glowing. Tasha graced her with one of her trademark smiles before whirling away to hum and dance to the music while making Patterson's drink. Her phone was plugged into the speakers for the shop today, and she had her sapphic playlist on and she just couldn't help herself dancing to Hayley Kiyoko's Gravel to Tempo.  
“Double shot espresso for Patterson,” she purred.

Patterson's blush was amazing to watch. She looked like the girl to school her emotions, leaving a stoic mask in place. But once she was complimented, the flush she sported looked like it should be permanent. Patterson grabbed the drink from the counter and quickly retreated to the back of the shop where there were a few open seats. Tasha planted her hands on her hips and smiled after the girl.

She could call today a win, she got more than three words out of the blonde.

===

Another midday shift and another day full of boredom. Tasha really hated midday shifts, but it was all she could get sometimes with classes and everything.

Everything behind the counter was spotless, Jane was down in the cooler organizing. The stock that they did have was already organised and had been reorganised again thanks to Tasha. Even the dishes were done. The syrups and flavorings were arranged alphabetically; napkins, half and half, soy milk, straws, cup sleeves, and sugar packets were all full. The rubbish had been taken care of, same with recycling. Slowly but surely (it was within the first two hours of the shift), she and Jane ran out of things to do.

If their boss was here, she would be getting Tasha's ass reamed for doodling on the cups. Luckily, today was Allie's day off. Tasha even pulled out her colored sharpies from her backpack. She was getting pretty creative. Some of the cups had forests, one had a sailboat and waves on it. Another had little cats drawn all over it. The one shd was working on had hearts all over it. Valentine’s day was coming up soon and she was really feeling the holiday. Granted she didn’t have a date yet, but who know what could happen in the next few days-

“So, are you going to doodle all day or take my order?”

Tasha jumped and looked up. Shit, it was Patterson.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Double shot still?”

“Like always.” Patterson looked exceptionally testy today, Tasha couldn’t help but worry a little.

“Everything alright? You seem extra grumpy today.” Tasha keyed in the order and wrote Patterson's name on a cup, and added the signature heart, reserved especially for the blonde.

Patterson ran a hand through her hair, messing it all up. “It’s been a long day, and I gotta go take my cat to the vet. He’s down with something.”

Tasha began to make her drink, like always. “You have a cat? Hope he's okay. I would be a mess if Magnus was sick.”

“You have a pet?” Patterson sounded a little surprised at that.

Tasha smiled over her shoulder. “Yup! A cat, too. He's clingy and always demands attention.”

She slipped a lid on to Patterson's cup and turned back to the counter. “Seriously, hope your cat gets better.”

Patterson took the cup, a blush starting to form. “Thanks,” she choked out before running out of the shop.

Tasha watched her, puzzled at why the blonde blushed. Was Patterson embarrassed for having a cat? She shrugged it off and looked behind her where she left the cup she was doodling on. Which appeared to no longer be there. She looked under the counter, just in case shd dropped it, but no luck. She counted up the ones she had doodled on, and none of them had hearts.

Where did it-

Oh.

Oh no.

Oh god no.

She gave that cup to Patterson.

She was so screwed. She really messed up this time. And just when she was getting beyond the casual conversation point. Tasha yanked on her hair, freaking out, ready to go dig her own grave.

Okay, she needed to take a deep breath. It was just a cup, maybe Patterson wouldn’t think anything of it and just drink it and toss it. No big deal. Wait, she adds the heart on the end of her name each time as well. Oh god, she'd just ruined any chance she had with Patterson talking to her again. Shit.

Shit shit shit.

She paced back and forth, mentally berating herself for doing something so stupid.

Sooner or later, her shift came to an end. The whole time she was freaking out.

Shit.


	2. Pretty Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "so let me get this straight, which I'm not by the way"

Tasha walked into work, nervous and ready to flee at any sight of Patterson. She never saw the blonde in and around campus, but she knew that they went to the same college from a lucky glance at her ID the other day.

But that didn’t help to calm Tasha's nerves. Not in the slightest.

She took to chewing on her nails, something that she would regret later that night, but Allie had found the doodle cups from last time and she was lectured again. She was really starting to get exasperated with some of the brunettes' antics, but for some reason, she kept Tasha around. If she was like this at any other place, Tasha was certain that she would’ve been fired by now.

Needless to say, she was going to be on her best behavior today. Nothing was going to go wrong.

If only she wasn’t suffering through another midday shift.

She let out a heavy breath and leaned on the back counter, watching the seating area. Everything that she could do was done, and it was just her luck that whoever she was supposed to work with this shift called off because they had a group project meeting. They didn’t really need anyone else on the midday shifts, the rushes were minimal, and this was basically the shift to clean up the messes that the morning team ended up making anyway. One person could easily do that all.

With that Tasha grabbed a wet towel and headed out to the seating area and began to wipe down the tables and rearrange the chairs. She just needed to keep busy, keep her mind off-

The door chimed.

Tasha looked up from the table and quickly looked back down, scrubbing at the table like there was no tomorrow.

Of course, she had to show up today too.

The brunette heard the footsteps come up to her and dreaded the way Patterson cleared her throat.

Freezing up, Tasha glanced up and quickly back down. “H-Hey…”

“Hey.”

If Tasha felt uncomfortable and anxious, Patterson definitely looked it. Her blush was light, and her blue eyes looked everywhere but Tasha, despite standing right in front of her.

Tasha just kept staring. She didn’t really expect Patterson to come back and talk to her. And she didn’t really trust herself to say the right thing at the moment.

Patterson took a deep breath and finally met her eyes. “Do you have a pen or something?”

“Uh, yeah?” she pulled the sharpie she had been using out of her apron and handed it to Patterson.

Patterson took the marker and grabbed onto Tasha's wrist before she could pull away.

“Hey, what are-”

Patterson started to scrawl something on the inside of her wrist. “Just, I don’t know, call me when you’re off work today.”

“O-okay? What for?”

Patterson capped the sharpie and handed it back to Tasha. “It’s fine if you don’t want to, but after the cup thing, I just thought that…that you were – I don’t know, interested?”

Tasha gaped at her, her mouth even fell open. Was she being asked out?

“Look I totally get it if you don’t want to, but the hearts at then end and stuff, plus all the hearts on the last cup…” Patterson trailed off, rubbing the back of her neck. She looked…shy?

“…You noticed all that?”

Patterson looked up at her, her hand dropping from her neck. “I mean, was I not supposed to?”

Tasha shook her head and leaned on the table next to her. “So, lemme get this straight, which I’m not by the way, but I guess you picked up on that already, but you, Patterson, are asking me out? As in, on an actual date?”

Patterson shrugged and crossed her arms. “If that’s what you want to call it, then yeah, I am.”

Tasha took a deep breath. And proceeded to laugh. The whole situation was just so… funny?

The girl standing in front of her, the one who just asked the brunette out, the one who looked like she could care less about anything, was asking HER out on a date. Her. Tasha. Of all people, it was her. She couldn’t help it.

Patterson rolled her eyes. “Okay, so obviously you thought this was a joke, sorry for bothering you.”

“Shit, Patterson, no it’s – it’s not that, oh gosh, phew, sorry sorry.” Tasha tried to gather her wits about her. She wiped a stray tear and took a couple steadying breaths. God, who thought she would be the one asked out. “I’ll call you when I get off in an hour. Sound okay?”

“Uh, sure.” Patterson blinked, the light blush coming back again.

“Great, talk to you then, Patterson!”

“Yeah, talk to you then-” she took a quick look at Tasha's nametag “-Tasha.”

Tasha beamed. “You still want that double shot?”

Patterson smiled a little back. “You still gonna add the heart?"

“Of course! Who do you take me for, some backwater Romeo?” Tasha scoffed, “Please, I’m not just gonna give up now that you’re taking me on a date, pretty girl.”

Patterson smiled, like the real deal kind of thing.

Tasha could feel herself melting on the inside – like good god that smile was something else, but on the outside, she rolled her eyes. “Okay, pretty girl, just because you have a great smile, it does not mean that flashing me those pearly whites is gonna get you everything.”

She saw Patterson's smile sharpen, taking on a more flirtatious edge. “Well… is it working?”

The brunette lightly groaned.

“I have to get back to work.” Tasha was a goner, there was no way she was going to survive this.

Patterson chuckled. “Yeah, you do, because I’d still like my double shot, with the heart, please.” And she freaking winked.

Patterson damn near died.

 

Tasha decided to wait till she was back at her apartment to call Patterson. She'd been neglecting poor little Magnus that past few days since deadlines had taken over her life and work took everything else. Needless to say, her poor cat down right livid with her for ignoring him.

To show that he was, Magnus simply meowed at her and stalked away into the kitchen, instead of leaping up onto her shoulder and rubbing his head against her cheek. Tasha loved that he was so affectionate, but at the same time, whenever he was vexed about something, Magnus was the world’s most antisocial cat ever.

“Aww, Magnus, c’mon boy, you know I can’t help it sometimes!” Tasha trailed after her cat, kicking off her shoes. “Lemme make it up to you, please.”

But Magnus was having nothing to do with her. He sat near his water bowl and decided it was a good time to groom. What a nice way to show his disinterest in her. Tasha sagged and left her cat alone.

She moped about the kitchen, prepping dinner when she decided that now was no better time than any to call Patterson.

She tapped in the numbers on her phone and hit call before tucking it into the crook of her neck. She wasn’t quite done using both of her hands for dinner.

Patterson picked up on the fourth ring. “Hello?”

“Hey, it’s Tasha, the cute barista you asked out earlier.”

“Oh, hey.” Patterson sounded surprised that she actually called. This should be fun.

“Hey.”

“So…what’s up?”

Tasha cast a quick glance at Magnus, who was still ignoring her. "Oh, you know, trying to figure a way to make my cat forgive me for ignoring him the past few days. Nothing new.”

Patterson let out a light laugh, and Tasha felt her knees go weak. “Why is he ignoring you?”

“Well, pretty girl, if you paid attention you would notice that I’ve been working the past three days. And with uni deadlines it hasn't left much time for dear Magnus.”

“Sounds like you owe your cat an apology.”

Tasha made an indignant noise and turned the stove down as her vegetables simmered in the pan. “It’s not like I can help it!”

“Uh huh, this is coming from the person who doodled on cups and got distracted,” Patterson said lightly.

Oh, so sass was going to be the way this was going to go? Tasha could deal with that. “Doodling is my major, pretty girl, can’t help it.”

“Mhm. Just give your cat some fish or something. It works for me.”

“And I bet your cat just loves to pretend to be angry at you.”

“…you know that actually makes a lot more sense now.”

Tasha smiled smugly and stirred her veggies and peaked in the oven at the chicken that was baking. “Either way, I’m fresh out of fish, maybe Magnus would be okay with a tidbit of chicken.”

And it was like Tasha spoke the magic words. Magnus was suddenly rubbing himself against her ankles, purring his little heart out.

She heard Patterson hum thoughtfully on the other end. “Should work, mine just prefers fish.”

“Sounds like a typical cat – Magnus, dude, yes, you can have some but you gotta be patient.”

Magnus looked up at her with wide blue eyes, blinking at her. He gave a short purr and jumped up onto her shoulder.

“Magnus-!”

“You okay over there?”

“Just fi-fine, Magnus seriously, I love you too, but really. Hold on, Patterson.” Tasha grabbed the phone from her shoulder before Magnus knocked it off and into the pan on the stove.

Once it was safe, she reached up and brought her cat down to cuddle, murmuring, “Magnus, you gotta behave. I have a cute girl on the phone, and you’re being a distraction, baby.”

Magnus reached up and batted her nose with a paw. Tasha smiled down at him. He really was a great cat.

“Can you be quiet for me, Magnus? Just for a little bit?” She scratched his chest and his eyes fell shut as he started to purr again. “That’s a good kitty, such a good boy. I’m gonna put you down now, okay? I promised you some chicken, but you gotta behave, ya hear?”

She flipped his tail on her side, content with what he was hearing and his way of saying ‘yeah, yeah, okay’. Tasha set him down on his feet and peeked on the chicken once more before picking her phone up again.

“Okay, I’m back, sorry about that.”

She could practically hear Patterson's smile in her response, “No big deal, Kat gets the same way.”

"Cat?"

"Yeah, Kat with a K. It's short for Katherine or Katie or Kit Kat. A year on and I still haven't decided"

"That's cute, I like it." Tasha laughed “Cats are strange, but I don’t how I would survive without mine.”

“Haha, same.”

They lapsed into a slightly awkward silence, but Tasha didn’t really notice because she had to pay attention to her food again. The stir fried vegetables were almost done, and the chicken was almost to temp.

It stretched so long that Tasha was almost afraid that Patterson had hung up on her.

“You still there, pretty girl?”

She listened as Patterson cursed and clunks sounded through the call.

“Patterson?” a moment passed and Tasha rolled her eyes and pulled off her vegetables. “You dropped your phone, didn’t you?”

“Did not-”

“And you fell asleep.”

“How the hell-”

“And you’re blushing right now, aren’t you?”

“I- how…what?”

Laughter bubbled in Tasha's chest. She couldn’t help it, Patterson sounded so freaking cute when she was embarrassed. “You fell asleep, yes or no?”

“…maybe.”

“I’ll take that as a yes. What has you so tired anyways? You practically subsist on double shots every day.”

Patterson groaned. There was rustling on her end, and Tasha was sure she was rolling over. “Engineering papers take a long time to get done.”

“What kind of engineering? I have a friend who’s in mechanical.”

“Computer science. It’s that and physics that are keeping me up all night.”

“Dude, that can’t be healthy. No wonder you’re falling asleep on the phone.”

“Couldn’t help it when you were talking to your cat like that,” Patterson's voice was muffled and it sounded like she was face first on her pillow. “Was cute.”

“Duuuudee, why do you notice everything?!” Tasha hid her face in her hands, covering the blush that Patterson couldn’t even see.

“S’my thing.”

“Ughhh, okay. Fine. That’s cool, pretty girl. I gotta eat dinner soon, so why did you want me to call you after work today?” The chicken was close to being done, a few more minutes.

“Mmm, wanna go on a date?”

Tasha ran a hand through her hair and sighed. “I'm glad to see my incessant flirting hasn't been a complete failure since the day you walked into Allie's.”

“And that’s why I’m asking. So… is that a yes or a no?”

Tasha thought it was really cute that Patterson seemed really unsure about whether she would say yes or not. “You bet, when and where?”

She heard Patterson sit up. “When are you done tomorrow?”

“Four-ish. Have a couple later classes.”

“Cool, I get done at three. I can pick you up by the student union?”

“Sure, I’ll see you then, pretty girl.”

“You’re never going to stop calling me that are you?”

“Not if I can keep getting away with it,” Tasha laughed.

Patterson joined in a little, before groaning. “Dammit, Kat, what?”

“Haha, did your cat get you?”

“Yeah, it’s time to feed her and for the meds. So I better go.”

Tasha leaned against the counter and hugged herself. “Yeah, go take care your cat, Patterson. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“See you later, Tasha.” And with that, the line went dead.

Tasha took the phone away from her face and stared down at it. She really couldn’t get her mind wrapped around the fact that Patterson was talking to her outside of the coffee shop. Tasha really thought that she would be out of her league, or just think she was annoying with all the flirting she was doing. But Patterson didn’t seem to mind, and if she went out on a limb here, Tasha was pretty sure that Patterson actually liked it.

She smiled at her phone as she saved Patterson's number, entering her name in as “Pretty Girl <3”.

Magnus yowled, and Tasha suddenly remembered that the chicken was still in the oven.

“Shit, shit, shit,” she muttered as she pulled it out.

The bottom was a little charred, but the rest would be alright if she used some of the juices from the stir fry to rehydrate it.

“Sorry, Magnus it might be a little dry. You still want some?” She looked down at her cat, watching as he licked his lips. “I’ll take that as a yes then. Remind me to get you some fish for Valentine’s day to make up for this and tomorrow, okay?”

Magnus mewed and rubbed her ankles.

“Love you too, pretty kitty.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my friend's gf calls her "pretty girl" all the time because they bonded over the Hayley Kiyoko song and honestly it's so cute agsghshs
> 
> THANK YOUUUUU FOR READING!

**Author's Note:**

> Sadly, I have 0 game and I didn't talk to the pretty girl anywhere near the way Tasha was flirting with Patterson. This was originally a one shot but it got too long so will post the second chapter soon! THANK YOU FOR READING


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